Mini-Beadbeater-16

• Power: 115 volt or 230 volts models available
• Width 10 in, Depth 16 in, Height 12 in, Weight 40 pounds
• Shaking pattern: Uses proven, efficient, near horizontal vial orientation with "figure 8" shaking motion
• Capacity: Four to sixteen screw-cap microvials (0.5, 1.5 and 2.0 ml) with each handling up to 400 mg (wet weight) bio-sample
• Shaking speed: 3450 rpm
• Throw or vial displacement: 0.875 inches
• Timer: 0-5 minute digital, with auto reset
• Removable vial-holding cassette
• No required motor cool-down-time between sample run

Features to Consider when Shopping for a High Speed Shaking Bead-mill Cell Disrupter...

SHAKING TIME:  If you are harvesting intercellular proteins you will want close to 100% cell disruption. The Mini-BeadBeater-16 will deliver those high yields with 2-3 minutes of beadbeating. Some high-speed bead mill manufacturers claim disruption times of less than 30 seconds, which may suffice when partial extraction of nucleic acids is adequate, but for blotting methods or protein recovery, high yields require more beadbeating time.

SHAKING SPEED:  Some commercial bead-mill cell disrupters express their disruption setting as meters/second (m/s). This term combines shaking speeds in rpm with vial displacement distance to create a unit that supposedly defines a bead-mill's cell disruption power to mechanically lyse cells.  The fact is that there is no available formula that comprehensively defines cell disruption efficiency of bead mill grinding machines.  Were a term to exist, it would need to take into consideration not only shaking speed and distance of vial displacement but additional important variables such as shaking direction (vertical vs.horizontal), shaking pattern (linear vs.figure eight), kinetics of change in shaking direction (sigmoidal vs. square wave), vials used (size and shape) and beads used (sizes, composition, bead load).

VIAL ORIENTATION, SHAKING PATTERN and SHAKING DISTANCE (THROW):  Most bead mill cell disrupters shake 2 ml microvials in either a vertical (upright) or approximately horizontal direction. In terms of cell disruption efficiency, the horizontal position is more efficient than vertical.  All shaking-type bead beaters have flattened figure-eight shaking patterns.  The exact shape of this figure-eight pattern has little impact on the disruption efficiency.  Shaking distance (throw), does however have a significant impact.  By necessity, all shaking type bead mill cell disrupters must have a vial throw of about ¾  to 1 inch to be most efficient.

The interplay of these multiple variables is complex.  Each manufacturer attempts to optimize the interaction of these variables when designing their cell disrupter machine.  As might be expected, some machines have achieved this goal better than others. 

A final point:  Published cell lysis protocols using high-speed bead-mill cell disrupters are seldom operated at shaking speeds less than the maximum speed.  Thus, the availability of variable speed settings, be they "rpm" or "M/s", might be viewed as a 'bell and whistle' feature.

.....from a Researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Lab: 'We have now tested the MiniBeadBeater-16 with two different sets of samples, with more than 100 samples processed. It seems to perform comparably with the single channel units we have from BioSpec, which is a very pleasant surprise. We are able to isolate DNA from purified Bacillus spores, which have proved to be too difficult for all of the other commercially available, multi-channel instruments we have tried.'   {*Not to be taken as an endorsement by LLNL or its affiliates}

.....from Ontario Veterinary College: 'We received your Mini-Beadbeater-16 and put it to use immediately. It is just as advertised, easy to use, and our tissue homogenization and resultant RNA isolation has improved drastically!!'

Great prices

.....from Steve @emu.edu: 'I'm shopping around for a bead-beater kind of homogenizer, and the Mini-Beadbeater-16 looks great, price-wise anyway, compared to the Fastprep™ and other similar products. How does it compare to the other $7000-$10000 bead beaters on the market and why is it so much cheaper?' Answer: For over 30 years our business model has been to offer quality scientific equipment at reasonable prices. BioSpec accomplishes this in two ways: 1. Sometimes we design and build equipment which incorporates a preexisting mass-marketed tools or appliances. Savings from this strategy are passed on to the customer. 2. We advertise modestly. Advertising costs associated with print and digital advertising, distributor and customer discounts, representative commissions, and trade shows must be factored into a final product price...indeed, offsetting promotional costs can account for 50% of the sales price of a lab tool.

What is meter/second?

.....from Alexa at Mt Sinai School of Medicine:  "I received a protocol from another lab where they used a FastPrep™ machine to lyse Staphylococcus aureus for RNA isolation.  I wanted to use a BioSpec Mini-Beadbeater-16 in my lab for cell disruption.  The FastPrep protocol called for 20 seconds at a setting 4.0 m/s, cool on ice for 5 minutes, then process again for 20 seconds at a setting of 4.5 m/s.  You suggested that I try a total of 30 seconds in the Mini-Beadbeater-16, alternating between 10 seconds beadbeating and 1 minute cooling in ice-water.  I am writing to let you know that this revised protocol is working for me.  If anyone else is having a similar problem, please feel free to have them contact me."

Grinding time will vary, depending on the type of sample.  Generally, 2-3 minutes will get you close to total cell lysis.  If you are doing PCR work and can settle for less than total cell lysis, shorter periods of beadbeating may suffice.  Also important for good cell disruption is the choice of bead size, bead composition, and bead load.  These details are covered in operating instructions that accompany our machines and are also available on our web site under "Beads (Guide-lines)".